More Greetings and Responses (Very long lesson!)

This might be a little late in the year, but... Mema wo Afenhyia pa. Correct response: Afe nk⊃ mmεto yεn bio. (I wish you a good year... May the year go around and come to us again.)

We started off the class with a review and added a few new phrases:
Adult: Awuraa, maakyē. (Good morning, ma'am.)
Youth: Yaa agya [aja]. (general response)
Adult: Wo hõ te sεn? (How are you?)
Youth: Mepa wo kyεw [mepaakyεw], me hõ yε. (Please, I'm fine.)
(Note: The older person is supposed to ask the younger how he/she is doing. The younger person does not ask this back. My teacher explains that this is because youths are very important and it is in the interest of the adult/elder to take care of the younger people. It is still necessary to be very polite, no matter who you're taking to, so terms of politesse are crucial in every conversation.)

Mepaakyεw, den asεm?



Forms of address:
Owura = Sir/Mr. (Also means "literate," though the man does not have to be literate.)
Brother = A male of the same age or slightly older. (Yes, there are a few terms in English. Colonialism!)
Papa = Father
Uncle = A male that's old enough to be your father.
W⊃fa = A familiar term for a male cousin or your mother's brother.
⊃panyin = Elder male
Awuraa = Lady/Ma'am (Again, this used to be reserved for literate women, but now just to show respect.)
Sister = A female of the same age or slightly older.
Maame = Mother
Auntie = A female old enough to be your mother.
Sewaa = A familiar term for a female cousin or your father's sister.
⊃baá panyin = Elder female
Nana = Grandparent, very respected elder, or Chief

More essential vocabulary:
aane = yes
daabi = no
yoo = okay/alright
wo = you
me = I/me

And if you're trying to get around Ghana, you can ask a person or your taxi driver a few questions:
Mepaakyεw, den asεm? = Please, what do you want to know?
Mepaakyεw, boa me. = Please, help me.

Mepaakyεw, wo bε boa me. = Please, help me. (Used when there is some reluctance.)
Mepaakyεw, wo betumi aboa me? = Are you capable of helping me? (Not in a rude way.)
Mepaakyεw, wo nim faakōa worek⊃? = Please, do you know the place where I want to go?
Mepaakyεw, w'ayera anaa? = Please, are you lost?
Bra! = Come here!
Mo mbra! = All of you, come here!
Mepaakyεw, frε no ma me, wae. = Please, call her/him to come here quickly.
("Wae" implies that you are trying to coax the person, your age or younger, to do something. It's also like saying, "Okay?" It is short for "woate", which means "have you heard me?")

Favorite phrase of the day: Hwε tεfre! = Look at the cockroach! (Yes, I could've used this a couple times already in NY.)

We covered a LOT today (Thursday), as you can see. It's fun to learn so much and ask our teacher many questions, but it's so hard to remember everything. Thankfully, he moved the quiz from Tuesday to Thursday. But I have a lot of practicing to do no matter what. Our class is so great- we talk about all sorts of things. On Thursday, we discussed Jamaican culture in Ghana, which was great for me since I just wrote a big research paper on this! And I didn't even bring this subject up! Anyway, hope this blog is interesting and/or helping some people... Medaase!